First Week In Quito

HOLA!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!! This has been a pretty crazy week getting used to the new sector and everything, but I am really liking it here! So today we were going to go to the zoo and we were super excited, but then we found out that it is closed every Monday :( That was pretty sad. But there is another one in Quito that technically isn't in our mission, but we are going to ask president if we can go! So we just ended up hanging out around here oh and we went and got Chinese food for lunch and it was wonderful! First time in 6 months eating Chinese food! Yay!! 

    So I will tell you a little more about Hermana Finley! She is super cool and super crazy! Just imagine a mix between me and Bekki. She is from Oakland California and is half Samoan.She is half Bekki because she is super funny and crazy and a little rebellious and like me because we both really love musicals! (someone finally understands me!!!) I am having so much fun with her! We talk about everything! I think that she is my best friend in the mission! She was the trainer of Hermana Conder! Oh and also she is an Hermana training leader which means that twice a week she does divisions with the other sisters in the mission. There are two hermana training leaders in this area so when they go I am with Hermana Nethercot, the companion of the other leader. I am with her two or three times a week so its really kind of like I have two companions! Its kind of hard because we switch off working in my sector and hers and I don't really know my sector and I want to work in it but that's ok! It has made me depend on the Lord so much because when I am with Hermana Nethercot I am the senior companion and she doesn't really know any Spanish so I really have to take the lead. I can feel Him helping me so much. I could not do this on my own. I am so grateful that He is so mindful of us and our needs in every moment!

     The ward here is great! I don't know them a lot, but them seem really nice! Oh we ate with a member this week and we had my favorite soup! can you guess what it is????..... Yay cow foot soup!!! And this hermana that gave it to us stayed at the table the whole time and told us that she wasn't going to move until we finished everything.... that was pretty painful haha. Other than that the food has been pretty good! Nothing else that made me gag! The ward is really big! There are three companionships of missionaries in our ward. Two other sister, us and then the elders. It's fun to have a lot of missionaries here! We found a TON of new investigators this past week! The normas de la mision is that we should find 12 new investigators and normally we find about 6 or 7, but this week we found 22 new investigators!  I have no idea how but it was super cool! The problem is that only 2 of them came to church :( 

      I have really been working this past week to think about converts and not just baptisms. Elder Waddell talked a lot about that with us the other week. We really need to help people be converted to the Lord and want to do HIS will and not just want to please the missionaries (which is the problem that they get in poorer countries) I know that to help these people be converted to the Lord I need to be completely converted first. I really feel like every day I am strengthening my testimony and that my will is becoming more in line with that of our Heavenly Father!  I am still reading the Book of Mormon with you guys and I love it! I love you guys so much and I miss you like crazy!!!

Mision Ecuador Quito Norte:

Lideramos por ejemplo

Servimos con amor

Cumplimos con obedencia

Returnaremos con honor

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Transfer to Quito!

 Ok, I don't have a ton of time to write so I will just tell you guys the most important things that happened this week! So this week we had a visit from Elder Waddell from the 70! Wow that was soooooo amazing! He served his mission in Spain so he has an accent haha, but wow seriously his teachings were amazing! Oh and he picked a couple missionaries in our mission to have interviews with him and guess who was one of the sisters!....... Hermana Chamberlain! yay!!! It was super cool to talk to him and I told him a little about dad cause they both went to Spain on their missions (different missions and different times) and when I told him about how dad has cancer he was like hey whats their home phone number? I think I want to call them. haha Yeah so that was super cool!

     Jamie and Veronica are doing great and they are all ready for their baptisms this next week! I am super happy for them! 

     So last night we were all happy getting ready to go to bed and we got a phone call from Elder Lino our district leader. We knew that there were going to be some changes for the Elders cause There are a few that are finishing their missions so they are in Quito today and tomorrow they are going home. So when he called we asked him what the changes are and who the new elders are in our district. He told us about the changes of the Elders and then he was like oh and by the way you guys have changes too. We were just like hahaha yeah elder very funny. But turns out it was true! So I had to wake up at 5 in the morning and pack all of my things to go to Quito! It was super sad cause I didn't have ANY time to say goodbye to anyone. We just talked to a few members that live close to us and then I had to go. We were the only sister that had changes so I traveled to Quito with three other elders which was a little awkward.... But now I am here!

       Wow Quito is sooooo different than Otavalo! There are TONS of people and cars and buses hahaha oh and we went to the mall to eat lunch when I got here and I seriously felt like I was in the states. This mall is huge and super nice! It reminds me a lot of the really nice one in Virginia that we like to go to.... it might be nicer. My Companion is Hermana Finley! She is from California and is SUPER funny! (like to talk in English... hope I don't lose my Spanish) She is an Hermana Lider which means that she goes on splits with the other sisters every week so I will have to go with other sisters in our zone while she does that... I heard its hard to be companions with an hermana lider but I´m sure that everything will be fine! Our house is super nice! I will send pictures! 

The toast that Hermana Moran made for Marley's 6 

month celebration of being on a mission!

Hermana Chamberlain and her new companion Hermana Finley

So many have asked how Marley is doing on her mission AND how she is doing since she heard the news about her dad's cancer. We all appreciate the outpouring of love and support we have received and thank you all! We feel incredibly blessed and so grateful! I haven't been very good the last few months about posting her letters home, BUT I will do better. This is the email she sent the day we told her the news and as you can see she LOVES her mission, has incredible faith, and through prayers, faith, and obedience feels that we will continue to see miracles in our lives. Love to you All!

Email from 5-5-14

Hey so I have had a pretty chill p-day. After I got your email we went over to the house of a member (the Familia Chamorro) they are really really great, they have been like my second family here. Hermano Chamorro is great and he gave me a blessing that was really beautiful. He talked a lot about how this is just a trial for our family and that everything will be ok. Their whole family was really great and they said to tell you guys that even though they don't know you, they love you and our whole family is in their prayers. Then President Richardson called to ask how I was doing. He says that he wants to talk to me in person, but I really don't want to go to Quito.... we will have to see. He also gave me D&C 31 to read which is great. You guys should read it too. 

   I just want to share with you some of the miracles that I have seen in my mission so far, some of them are small and silly, but they really are miracles and blessings from the Lord.
   First, I can’t tell you how many times we come home at the end of the day and when we look back on our lessons it isn't possible that we visited as many people as we did during the day.
    Edwin was a huge miracle. I didn't know that it was possible that someone could be so prepared to accept the gospel.
    Also for his baptism his wife had to work that day and she said that her boss is crazy and that in her 14 years of working there he hasn't let her change her hours, but this day he did and she was able to come to his baptism.
    One day after we finished a really long and muddy service project, we went back to the house to shower our water wasn't working. haha We were so disgusting and really just wanted to shower and after waiting for a while we decided that we really needed to work so we would just go out and shower when we came back for the night. We tried to turn on the shower one more time and it worked! It worked just long enough for both of us to take hot showers and then the water turned off again. haha kind of silly, but it was a miracle.
   We have been trying to have a lesson with this lady named Miriam for the past like 4 weeks, but every time we go she says that she is too busy or that she doesn't want to right now. This week we decided to try one more time before giving up and when she answered the door she immediately welcomed us in and thanked us for coming. Before we even started teaching her anything we asked if she had any questions for us and she said "I really want to be baptized. What do I need to do?"

   I was actually really disappointed last night when they said that we didn't have changes (I was hoping that I would be a trainer in this transfer) but now I am so grateful that I am still in this ward and with the sweet Hermana Moran for one more change. 

    I love you guys so much. I know that the Lord is always with us through these trials to comfort us. I have so much faith in our Savior and that we can see miracles in our lives thanks to our faith and obedience. I am so grateful for the amazing family that I have been blessed with and the wonderful experience that I have to serve the Lord at this time. I know that we will see the miracles and tender mercies of the Lord now more than ever. I love you guys so much! 

Hermana Chamberlain and Hermana Moran

Visting a cultural museum in Otavalo

Zone Conference in Quito

HOLA FROM ECUADOR!!!!!!!!! Wow! I can't believe that I have already been here for a week! I have only been in my area since Thursday night! I will wait to tell you where it is... or maybe you already know! I bet that the mission presidents wife emailed and told you. It sounds like you guys had such a fun New Years Eve! Want to know what I did for New Years Eve? I slept haha a couple of the other girls woke up and started running around the apartment we were staying in, but I slept through the whole thing! I was so tired from everything!

Ok so we were in the mission home for about three days and it was actually really fun! I LOVE OUR MISSION PRESIDENT AND HIS WIFE! They are soooo freaking cute and nice. Hermana Richardson gave us cooking classes and everything. I think she forgot that we are full time missionaries and have absolutely NO time to cook! But it was really cute and sweet. We had a couple more classes with the mission president and his assistants about the rules of the mission and how to stay safe and everything. It was really fun! Then on Wednesday night they gave us a welcome dinner at their house! Oh my goodness! Their house is sooo nice! It was absolutely beautiful and they had pictures all over of people in the mission when they have their first baptism and things like that. They are so sweet and cute! Oh and the food that Hermana Richardson cooked was wonderful! Then on Thursday we got to find out where we are going and who our first companions are! I was so afraid that I was going to go to the coast where they only have one companionship of sister missionaries because it is so dangerous. AND It is super hot. I was soooo scared haha but Hermana Smith ended up going there and she was so freaking excited! She is going to be so amazing! Anyways.....My companion is Hermana Irepan from Mexico and I am in Otavalo!!!! It is soooo amazing! I love it so much! It was the one place that I really wanted to go! And I am in the Latino ward so I don't have to learn ANOTHER language! I just have to suffer through Spanish! And I am in the city part so I don't have to live up in the mountains (even though I kind of want to)

Otavalo is seriously the best mission in Ecuador! I wish that I could stay here my whole mission! The people are seriously the nicest people in the world. Everyone is soooo friendly! Its so fun to see the women in their traditional clothing with babies on their backs selling fruit. AHHH! I just keep thinking that these are the people in the Book of Mormon! It makes it so fun to read it when I am with their descendants right now! The area we are in is really really nice. Our house is beautiful and huge! Way too big for two of us! I will send pictures of it later! Oh my goodness I love Hermana Irepan so much! She is so good to help me with my Spanish and everything (Why do I feel like my Spanish is getting worse?) She actually knows a lot of English and sometimes when we get home at night we only speak English so she can practice and my mind can have a break. I thought I would be done with all this studying when I left the CCM.... Nope! We still have 4 hours of studying in the mornings because I am a new missionary and am in the 12 week program, but after these 12 weeks I will only have 3. It's two hours of companionship study, one hour of personal, and one hour of language. So we don't even leave the house until 12 then we meet with someone for an hour and at 1 or 2 we have lunch with a member! They are all so sweet here! The food isn't bad at all. Its just a TON of rice! haha. I'm sure after a year and a half of this I am never going to want to eat rice again! So in the CCM they drilled it into us that knocking doors just doesn't work anymore so we won't do it at all.  This is true in the states and Europe, but here we knock doors all the time! People are so friendly that they will almost always listen to us. The problem is getting them to commit to anything. They are all Catholic (Not that they go to church or anything) and they get really offended that we think their religion isn't right or they need to be baptized again. It makes it hard. Plus this is Hermana Irepans first time in the area too so we came not knowing anyone or having any referrals or anything. But the ward is sooo nice! I cant even take it! The Bishop is amazing and really helpful. When we first got here he was waiting at the bus stop to help us with our bags! 

We have about four investigators so far and one of them is progressing (which means she is keeping commitments and has a baptism date!) We just met her last night! She is 18 and has a baby. I am not really sure what the story is with the dad but she lives with her parents. She is really cute and sweet and we are meeting with her again tonight! I hope that she is still interested! This is a really great area. The Elders in our ward said that they have about one baptism a week! That seems really hard right now cause no one really wants to listen to us, but I´m sure we can do it! I love you guys so so so much! You can't even know how much I love you! I miss you! I will send pictures! 

Pretty area in Otavalo

My companion Sister Irepan

Eating Pizza with Sisters in the area

Fun at the House

Made it to Ecuador!

HOLA FROM ECUADOR!!!!!! I am so so sorry that I didn't call from Columbia! I thought that we would have like two hours, but we ended up having to run to our next flight so I didn't have time to call! The flights were fine. The first one I sat by two girls who didn't want to have anything to do with me haha. Then on the next one I sat by two girls who were 8 and 14. The one just talked the whole time about how much she loved Brad Pitt. I explained what I was doing going to Ecuador and stuff, but I couldn't exactly teach them a lesson because they were so young. It was really good to practice my Spanish! They were so cute and I hated having to say goodbye to them! We were so worried about knowing where to go, but as soon as we got out of the airport there were a bunch of missionaries waiting for us with a big sign that said, "Welcome to Ecuador!" It is sooooo beautiful here! I love it so much! We are staying here in the mission home until Thursday for training and everything then on Thursday we get to meet our first companions and find out where we are going! I AM SOOO EXCITED! We have met the mission president and he is super cool! We have interviews with him right after this! I love it here so much! the weather is absolutely perfect and the people are so nice! I cant wait to go out and start teaching people! They only gave us like 5 minutes so I have to go but I will get 2 hours to email next Monday and I will send lots of pictures! I love you guys so much! And I LOVE ECUADOR!!

Christmas in the CCM

 Christmas Day

GUESS WHAT!!! We got our flight information!!!!! we thought we would be leaving next Wednesday because that's what it said on our calender, but turns out we are leaving the CCM Monday at 3 am!!!! AHHHH I am freaking out! I cant wait to get to Ecuador!!! I will be there in less than a week! 

This morning was wonderful! We woke up at 6 am and gave each other all of our presents and I opened the ones from you guys! Then our district went in our classroom and sat with our chairs in a circle and had our secret Santa gifts! Then we went around sharing our favorite scriptures about Christ. Then for breakfast we had muffins and hot chocolate because we didn't want the workers to have to work on Christmas. And then we practiced singing because we are having a choral festival tonight (I have a solo ahhh!) This Christmas has already been one of my favorites even though I can't be there with you guys. I don't think I have thought about Santa, or elves, or snowmen, or anything like that at all. This Christmas has been completely centered on Christ, just like it should be. I love it so much.

The Day After Christmas

Hola!! I loved seeing all of the Christmas photos!!! It looked like you guys had so much fun! I love seeing pictures! So first I will tell you more about yesterday! It was an amazing Christmas! After we emailed we got to put together kits for newborns. It had things like cloth diapers and soap and little shoes and stuff, it was so cute! It was also sad to think how many people really have nothing. Then we got together with another district (cause ours is so small) and shared our favorite scriptures and sang our favorite hymns! Then we had an amazing devotional with Elder Bednar (Broadcast from Provo) ahhhh it was sooooo good! He had a question and answer session where they handed out cell phones to everyone in the audience so they could text him their questions (we could email them in) after they handed out the cell phones he said "If you call home I will hunt you down and do bad things to you" haha it was sooo funny to hear him say something like that. From Elder Holland maybe Id expect it, but from Elder Bednar.... haha The last devotional we had with Elder Holland he said "If you come home early you won't want to see me in a dark ally." It's so fun to have devotionals where they are talking to the missionaries specifically. ANYWAYS! Elder Bednar gave the best advice about how to be the best missionary you can possibly be. It is to forget yourself. Really forget yourself. I know that my mission isn't about me at all. It is about everyone else but me! I want to be the kind of missionary that can completely forget about myself and concentrate on everyone else. I CANT WAIT TO GET TO ECUADOR!!! After the devotional we had the festival of choirs! I had a solo in one of our songs and I don't remember the last time I was that nervous! I was seriously freaked out haha, but it went well! Then we had our ham dinner with cheesecake and chocolate cake. It was delicious. Then we watched a bunch of bible videos about Christs birth and sang more songs. I don't know if I have ever sang so much in my entire life! It was an amazing Christmas and I loved every minute of it!

Since we are leaving early we are all done teaching Octavia and Abram. I am soooo sad! Even though I will still see them the next few days as my teachers I don't like thinking about not teaching them anymore! Oh Sunday was crazy! I had to give a prayer in sacrament meeting AND give another talk! I talked about how as missionaries we are both the star that leads people to Christ and the wisemen that need to come to Christ with gifts of our hearts and willingness to serve. And it was all in Spanish this time! Then We had to lead Sunday school in our district so we just went through and talked about the life of Christ. Then a small group of us sang a song for the devotional. I felt very involved with everything! We are all really involved because there is only about 200 missionaries in the CCM right now because of Christmas! After the beginning of the year there will be about 1000. I have really liked having a small group. We are all very close with everyone here and I probably wouldn't have gotten the chance to know all the leaders so well. haha President Pratt calls us four the fearsome four cause we are always together. Hmmmm other random things about the CCM.... There is one Elder who calls me Scandinavia because he asked me once if I had ancestors there and I said I think I did on my Dads side so after I sang yesterday he told everyone I sounded like a Scandinavian angel  haha that was pretty great. Our houses are kind of by the huge fence surrounding the CCM so sometimes we can hear mariachi bands playing and we are reminded that we are in Mexico haha. I love it here! I really am going to be sad to leave. We started packing today because they don't really give us any other time. I cant believe this time next week I will be in Ecuador! AHHH I love you guys so much! I don't have very many pictures but I will send a few!

 Our District Christmas Picture

 Christmas Day

Our "Christmas Tree" = 2 palm branches decorated with cards and candy wrappers!

Halfway Through The CCM

HELLOOOOO!!!!!! I love you guys sooooo much!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TATUM AND DEVIN!! It looks like you guys had soooo much fun! I wish I could have been there! Wow! 16 and 9! you guys are sooo old! This week was the best! I got two packages AND cinnamon rolls from you guys!!! Thank you so much it was amazing! The cinnamon rolls were delicious! But it said to warm them up in the microwave and we didn't have one so we used our blow dryers hahaha it was sooo funny! I'll send pictures. Have you guys gotten my letters yet? Oh and don't send any letters or packages after this week cause if they get here when I'm gone they just throw them away! I love you guys soooo much!

       Wow I cant believe that I am half way done with the CCM! It really is insane! I feel like I can understand the language a lot better but speaking it is still really hard! I cant wait for the day when it just comes naturally! So we went to the temple this morning which was amazing but SUPER hard all in Spanish! Ugh I felt like such idiot! And all the temple workers were trying so hard to help me but I couldn't understand what they were saying! Ok Sundays are the best here in the CCM! We get to watch two devotionals and a movie! This last Sunday it was the Joseph Smith movie and it was amazing! For sacrament meeting you don't know who is giving the talks until they announce it right before the songs..... so everyone has to prepare one haha luckily I haven't had to give one yet, but Hermana Conder had to last week! It was great! Its super stressful though! Our investigators(teachers) are coming along really well. Octavia(Hermana Olmos) seems really excited about the gospel and willing to do what we tell her. Abram(Hermano Vera) is less excited about reading scriptures and stuff but we got him to commit to baptism and come to church! But the next lesson we need to talk to him about the law of chastity so that should be interesting......I am so freaking excited for Christmas! It is going to be so hard to be away from everyone but I think it will be super cool and spiritual! We all feel kind of bad though cause Hermana Smith doesn't have any presents so Hermana Conder and I got her some today from the store by the temple. I love all the girls in our district! Hermana Smith is like the most spiritual person I have ever met! She has so many cool insights about scriptures and stuff. Hermana Obendorf has the exact same taste in movies and TV shows and stuff so we always quote Arrested Development to each other. And Hermana Conder is really just like an angle. I love her to death. 

        Even though I have only been here for three weeks I feel like my testimony has grown so much. Go watch the video The Atonement: How it Applies to Missionaries. It is absolutely amazing! also I have found such a love for the scriptures. I study them all day and at night I never want to go to bed at 10:30 cause I want to stay up and read. I know that we can receive personal revelation from them and they are amazing. Go read 2  Nephi 11. This gospel is truly amazing. Missionary work is the most important work in the world and they trust a bunch of kids with it. It just proves that through the Lord weak things are made strong. Also it proves that we most definitely aren't the teachers. Its all the spirit and we are just the vessels for it. But I'm going to be the best darn vessel there ever was! I love you guys so much! 

It said to heat them in the microwave, but this kind of works too....

Decorating for Christmas

Language Study 

P-Day Temple Trip